OCAMM Odds & Ends
Click on the links below for the latest composting and manure news.

December 6, 2006

From Lois Grant (OSU):
Call for Proposals - Warner Endowment Fund for Sustainable Agriculture Interdisciplinary Grant Program.  Program objectives are to research the profitability, energy efficiency,  social consequences and environmental soundness of sustainable agricultural practices and production systems.  Principal investigators must be from OSU CFAES faculty and Extension personnels.  Interested farmers, graduate students or members from other organizations are strongly encouraged to collaborate with OSU faculty.  Proposals are due January 15, 2007.  To receive a copy of the Call for Proposals, send an e-mail to wicks.14@osu.edu

From Andrea Gorzite (OSU):
Request for Proposals:  USDA-NRCS Conservation Innovation Grants.  Proposals are due February 2, 2007.  Projects should " . . stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies while leveraging the Federal investment in environmental enhancement and protection, in conjunction with agricultural practices."  For the full RFP, see http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/cig/pdf_files/CIG07WebFinal.pdf

From Steve Baertsche (OSU):
Ohio Department of Agriculture revokes Ohio Egg Farms' permits.  Sixteen permits issued for 12 farms were revoked due to false information on applications.  For more information, see http://www.ohioagriculture.gov/news/news/2006/lepp-113006-OFERevocation.pdf

From Dairy Alert via Dianne Shoemaker (OSU):
Hydrogen power from cows.  Researchers in New Mexico are working on affordable ways to use manure and other organic solid wastes to produce hydrogen. If successful, cows could help provide an energy source for fuel cells and help reduce dependence on non-renewable fossil fuels. The process relies on sunlight, rather than electricity, as an external energy source to produce hydrogen.  For more information, see http://lcsun-news.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=4727069&siteId=557

From Nathan Watermeier (OSU):
Precision Agricultural Data Management,Analysis and Decision Making Workshop.  Two Ohio locations:  January 16, 23, 30, 2007 at Knox County Extension Office, Mt. Vernon and February 20, 27 & March 6, 2007 at Fulton County Extension Office, Wauseon.  For more information, see http://precisionag.osu.edu/decisions/

November 27, 2006

From Dairy Alert via Dianne Shoemaker (OSU): 
New ethanol plant to be powered by manure. Panda Ethanol Inc. intends to build a 100-million-gallon-per-year ethanol plant near the city of Muleshoe, Texas. The facility will refine about 38 million bushels of corn each year into fuel, which will displace about 2.6 million barrels of imported oil annually. The facility will use more than 1 billion pounds of cattle manure per year to power the plant.  For the news release, see http://www.pandaenergy.com/portals/0/pdf_files/Muleshoe_Announcement_Release_110106.pdf

Congress may clarify Superfund law. The outgoing Republican Congress may be the best hope the dairy industry has to prevent manure from being classified as hazardous waste under the Superfund law. "We're looking at a number of opportunities for legislation that may be passed before the end of the year," says Chris Galen, spokesman for the National Milk Producers Federation. For more http://www.clovis-news-nm.com/engine.pl?station=clovis&template=storyfull.html&id=26351

From USDA-ARS news service:
Injecting chicken litter.  As more farmers use no-till practices, land for surface application of the 600,000 tons of poultry manure produced by Delmarva's  poultry farms is becoming limited.  So, researches are working to modify liquid manure applicators to inject poultry litter into the sandy soils in these region of Delaware and Maryland.  For more information, see http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2006/061120.htm

Water quality challenges in the Chesapeake Bay.  Although phosphorus and nitrogen levels have fallen since 1985, by 28% and 19%, respectively, oxygen levels reached their lowest point in 2005.  Approximately 41% of  the nutrients come from agricultural activities and researchers continue to assess the impact of practices, such as managing nutrients on farms, utilizing riparian zones and cover crops, and treating milkhouse water with an "algal turf scrubber, to reduce nutrient loads.  For more information, see  http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/nov06/bay1106.htm

November 15, 2006
OCAMM Seminar, TODAY, Wednesday, November 15 @ 2:30 pm
" Powder Lick Run: A Model for Meeting Ohio's Water Quality Goals" presented by Andy Rogowski, Ohio Department of Agriculture.  The seminar will video-linked between three OSU sites:  244 Kottman Hall, Columbus; 121 Fisher, OARDC, Wooster; 310K Galvin Hall, Lima.

From Chris Henry (UNL):
November newsletter and webcast from the Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center.  The newsletter includes information on a "Feed Management for CNMP Development" course and the animal diet/E. coli 0157:H7 debate.  The webcast, which will be the first of two on pathogens, will be broadcast this Friday, November 17 at 2:30 pm.  For more information, go to
http://lpe.unl.edu/index.html

Burning manure for heat.   An Iowa farmer is preparing to manufacture a manure-burning furnace for European livestock producers.  For the complete story, see http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061108/BUSINESS01/611080339/1030. For more information on the furnace, see http://www.naturesfurnace.com/Default.htm (Note:  While the site discusses water quality, it does not address emissions from the burner.)

November 6, 2006
Virtual composting tour.  For those who missed the Composting in Ohio 2006 tour, check out the photos on the OCAMM website at http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/ocamm/tour06_virtual.pdf.

National Carcass Disposal Symposium 2006: Connecting Carcass Disposal Research, Regulations, and Response, December 5-7, 2006, Adephi, MD.  For more information, see http://www.composting.org/NCDShomepg2.htm

From Dairy Alert via Dianne Shoemaker (OSU):
Pipeline-grade methane gas from manure.  On Monday, officials announced the successful completion of a methane-from-manure pilot project at Whitesides Dairy near Rupert, Idaho. The Whitesides prototype is the first anaerobic digester in America to produce pipeline-grade methane gas, according to The Times-News.   For more information, see  http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2006/10/31/news_localstate/news_local_state.1.txt

Power plant to run on milk-processing waste.  The city of Tulare, Calif., plans to use milk-processing waste to generate electricity. The power plant will use fuel-cell technology to convert milk-processing waste into electricity, which, in turn, will power a municipal wastewater plant. For more information click on the press release for October 25 at  http://www.fce.com/

From USDA-ARS news service:
Benefits of alum for treating poultry litter.  Ten years of data from a USDA-ARS study indicated that alum-treated litter reduced phosphorus by 75% at the watershed level and reduced ammonia in poultry houses by approximately 70%.  For more information, see http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/nov06/alum1106.htm